SOCIALSCI JOURNAL

Impact of climate Change on Agriculture and Food Security in Nigeria

Abstract

Eneji Mathias Agri (Ph.D.) 1, 2, *, Emmanuel Rose Mallo (Bsc)1, Dalut Nanwul Alfred1And Abdullahi

This research work examined the impact of Climate change on agriculture andFood Security in Nigeria from1998 to 2018. The studyadoptedsecondary data andthe Ordinary Least Square (OLS) technique, involvinga multiple regression model to analyze the causal relationship and coefficient of determinationof climate change on food production and food security, as well as considering Agricultural Technology Innovation as alternative solution to the problems of climatic changes in Agriculture. The study employed annual time series data sourced from C.B.N. Statistical Bulletin. Agricultural Output was used as a proxy for Food security (dependent variable). Annual Rainfall and carbon dioxidewere used as proxies for Climate change while Value Added in Agriculture and Government Expenditure on Agriculture were used as proxies for Agricultural Technology Innovation. The regression result revealed that there is a negative relationship between the dependent variable Agricultural Output (AO) and the independent variables Average Rainfall (ARF) and Carbon dioxide(Co2), as revealed by the values of their coefficients (-0.341801 and -20.56647). This result indicated that Climate change is not healthy for Food Security in Nigeria. The OLS result also revealed that there is a negative relationship between Agricultural Output and Value Added in Agriculture while there is a positive relationship between Agricultural Output and Government Expenditure as shown by the values of their coefficients (-0.102 and 4.58). The study recommended that the government should take proactive steps in addressing environmental problems which includes effective management of waste, flood and erosion.